


Back to the Start

by LynyrdLionheart



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-10
Updated: 2015-09-10
Packaged: 2018-04-20 00:42:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4767116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LynyrdLionheart/pseuds/LynyrdLionheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They've been together for nearly twenty years and never really spoke of who they were prior to their transitions... but Klaus is about to get introduced to who Caroline Forbes was at seventeen in a big way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Back to the Start

**Author's Note:**

  * For [deathsweetqueen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathsweetqueen/gifts).



> This was a super fun prompt to fill, so thanks for the great idea!

Someone was kissing her shoulder.

                And it felt _really, really_ good.

                A smile curved her lips, and she cuddled closer to the warm body behind her as they trailed kisses down her neck, hitting all the sensitive spots, even one just below her ear that even _she_ didn’t realize was sensitive.   She let out a pleased moan, but then froze.

                Because someone was kissing her neck, and as good as it felt, she _knew_ she had gone to bed alone the previous night.  She had been out with Matt, but of course the night had ended badly because he was making doe eyes at Elena and –

                Caroline rolled over and found herself face-to-face with a pair of blue eyes in one of the most attractive faces she had ever seen, and that included Stefan _and_ his d-bag brother Damon “the Jackass” Salvatore.

                “Are you okay, Love?” the strange man asked, and his voice just about made Caroline melt.  Hey, she was a seventeen year old in Mystic Falls.  Guys with accents didn’t show up all the time – and _this_ accent, to go with _that_ face was just so… so…

                God, if only the man clear weren’t a kidnapper. Because this wasn’t her room.  This was a room that she had never seen before, and panic was a creature that rode Caroline _hard_ as she realized she needed to get the hell out of this situation, cute, dimpled kidnapper or not.

                Caroline bolted out of the bed, and was impressed with her speed.  She didn’t realize she could move so fast, but she was at the door in a heartbeat, wrenching it open.  She expected it to be locked, but it wasn’t, the door flinging open with the force of her pull… and promptly flying across the room, shattering the window.

                “What the hell?” she yelped, because while cheerleading meant that Caroline _was_ in excellent physical condition, she definitely should _not_ have been able to throw what she was pretty sure was a pure oak door ten feet across the bedroom.

                In a flash – like, literally a flash, because one second he’s still in the bed and the next he’s right in front of her – the man was there, cupping her face and looking into her eyes.  Caroline tried to pull away, but even gentle as it felt on her skin, his grip was like iron holding her in place.

                “What have you done to Caroline?” he asked in a low, dangerous voice, that turned that accent from charming to dangerous.  A thrill of fear ran down her spine, and her mouth went dry.  Because she was quite certain this man could kill her.

                “I am Caroline,” she replied, part of her hating the tremor in her voice, but the majority just wanting to go home.  To curl up in bed and see her mom and have Liz tell her everything would be okay… which was ridiculous, of course.  The last time Liz had done something like that Caroline had been eight and her parents had still been together.  “Please don’t hurt me.”

                As though burned, the man recoiled his grip, and Caroline stumbled back to clutch the wall.  They were left in a staring war with each other, Caroline with tears pricking at the corner of her eyes, the man as though she had suddenly become a stranger.

                Which was ridiculous.  She _was_ a stranger to him.  They had never met before, so why was he acting as though her not knowing him were somehow breaking his heart?

                “Please,” she said after a moment, pausing to try and form some spit, to wet her mouth, gone dry with fear.  “Please, I just want to go home.”

                “Home…” the man murmured.  He stepped toward her once more, and Caroline cowered back further into the wall. The action made the man stop, and he watched her with eyes that she couldn’t quite read, but that somehow seemed to be in pain. “Where is your home, Caroline?”

                “Mystic Falls.  Please.  Let me go back.”

                “How old are you, Caroline?”

                She didn’t like this game of twenty questions, but she also remembered how strong he had been, holding her in place as though she were a doll.  So she would play along.  She would tell him anything if it got her home.

                “I’m seventeen.”

                “Seventeen…”  And suddenly, he was there right in front of her again, holding her chin and making her look him in the eye.  She stared, unable to look away, and his voice washed over her.  “ _You are staying at a manor owned by your great grandmother.  It’s incredibly boring, but there’s nothing to be done for it.  I am the stable master, and the next time you see me will be the first time we meet.  You will remember none of this.  Do you understand_?”

                “Yes,” Caroline replied obediently.

                She blinked, and opened her eyes, frowning, because why was she leaning against the wall?  God, clearly being stuck in the middle of nowhere was already driving her freaking _insane_.

\---

                “What do you mean, _she doesn’t remember anything_?”

                It wasn’t the first time Klaus had contemplated, or more than contemplated, killing the Bennett witch, but it was quite possibly the most serious he’d been about it in close to a decade.

                “Exactly as I said, Bonnie.  She thinks she is seventeen and doesn’t recognize me!”

                Not as her lover, not as the man that she claimed drove her to insanity daily… not even as the terrifying Hybrid she’d once plotted to kill.  No, she had looked at him as a stranger, had _feared_ him, as she hadn’t done since she was eighteen.

                And even then, she had never cowered as she had while in that room.

                “Okay… look, Klaus, I’ll see if I can’t figure this out-”

                “ _I’ll see_ , isn’t good enough, Bonnie.  Because if this doesn’t get fixed… well, we all know that my good will toward anything from Mystic Falls shares an expiration date with Caroline.”

                He didn’t wait for the witch’s reply, simply ended the call. The threat probably wasn’t necessary; despite being a vampire, Caroline was still godmother to Bonnie’s twins.  They spoke almost daily.  Time had, if anything, made the women appreciate each other more than they had in their high school days.

                But Klaus found that fear always gave an extra dose of inspiration, and he needed the witch inspired if she was to bring Caroline back to him.

                He was contemplating what to do next when he heard shuffling from the entrance to the stables, where he had retreated after leaving Caroline behind.

                He looked down the aisle, and saw gold blonde hair and a sunny smile as she stroked the velvety nose of the chestnut mare he had surprised her with on her last birthday.

                “Aren’t you beautiful,” she cooed, and it echoed the words she had said to the horse upon receiving it that a pang went through Klaus’ heart.  He very nearly turned and walked away; the feared Hybrid fleeing the woman he loved – and wasn’t that pathetic?

                But something had him stepping toward her instead, purposely making it so his footfalls would be heard.  Perhaps it was heretofore undiscovered masochistic inclination.

                Or perhaps it was just his never-ending desire to _know_ her – every aspect of her.

                “Oh,” she murmured, spinning toward him and looking at him surprised.  The lack of fear in her eyes told him that his compulsion had held.  It also told him that she had yet to realize that she was no longer human.

                Even the Caroline he had spent the better part of two decades with would be surprised by a sudden change in species.  The frightened girl that had been in the room that morning would have been in full on panic attack mode.

                “Can I help you with something, Love?” Klaus asked, putting on his best harmless expression and approaching her.  As he walked, he watched as the way she stood changed, the way she angled herself slightly to allow him to more fully appreciate the sight of her, the way her eyes turned appreciative as they looked him up and down, and how her smile took on the inviting lilt it did when she was feeling particularly flirtatious and was looking to seduce him.

                Normally, that look gave Klaus all sorts of ideas.  But in the situation… it just put his guard up, made his steps hesitant.

                “Hello,” she said, a hint of a purr in her voice.  “I’m Caroline.  You must be the stablemaster?  I didn’t know that people who were so… _young_ did that job.”

                “We do,” he replied, a flash of amusement as he wondered what this Caroline’s response would be to his actual age making his smile almost genuine.  “I’m Klaus. You must be Miss Forbes.  I was told to keep an eye out for you.”

                “Well, here I am,” the way she threw out her arms, that invitation in her smile, all of it gave her words a far different meaning than they might have otherwise.  He had once said that she would never choose to go back to being human, that she enjoyed being a vampire far too much.  Years later, she had told him he was right.  That she hated the human girl she had been; that the human girl had hated that girl, and how she felt so inferior, as though life were a giant contest she was always losing.

                Klaus wondered if that’s why she was looking at him with such interest, because he was just another contest to win against an imaginary opponent. 

                He found that he disliked the thought of her unhappiness, though he’d always thought that the girl Caroline had once been would hold no interest to him, not when she was so spectacular as a vampire.

                He found himself bowing over her hand with the old world charm that had wooed him many a woman over the centuries, kissing her knuckles and looking into doe eyes as she watched him with baited breath at the action.

                “It’s a pleasure.”

\---

                He was gorgeous, with curly blonde hair and dimples, and an accent that made her want to drop her pants right then and there.  Caroline Forbes was by no means easy, but she was a girl that went after what she wanted when she wanted him.

                And God, did she want the gorgeous Klaus.

                So she smiled and leaned into him, and did everything that her seventeen years had taught her boys liked.  Klaus smiled in return, but there was something distant in her eyes that had her frowning after him, arms crossed and utterly unimpressed.  It reminded her of Stefan – _you, me, not gonna happen_ – except that this time there was no Elena to compete against.

                He just wasn’t interested.

                “Do you have a girlfriend?” she asked, and then flushed when he looked back at her in surprise.  “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that.  I have a horrible habit of saying the wrong thing and-”

                “I suppose you could call my relationship status at the moment… _complicated_ ,” Klaus replied, and a small smile curled his lips, as though using the facebook lingo amused him.

                “ _Complicated_ as in yes, there’s a girlfriend, or…?”

                “Let’s leave it at complicated.”

                He continued to the kitchens, because she had invited him in for lunch, and Caroline scowled after him once more.  _Complicated_ wasn’t an answer.  And while Caroline had decided she wanted him, she wasn’t the type to poach on someone else’s boyfriend.

                “That so isn’t an-” She broke off when he opened a bottle of something thick and red, and the most amazing scent hit her nose, making her mouth water and her gums ache.  “Oh my God, what is that _smell_?”

                Klaus glanced down at the bottle in his hand, and then held it out to Caroline.  Not caring about manners, she grabbed it from him and pressed it to her lips, hungrily pouring back the contents.  It was thick and sweet, and she closed her eyes as she tasted it.  God, if orgasms were food, they would taste like _this_.

                “What _is_ that?” she demanded once the bottle was emptied and tossed aside.

                “Blood,” Klaus replied, and Caroline froze.  Her gums still ached, and she reached up, fingers running over her teeth, canines elongated, and in front of her eyes, Klaus’ eyes turned yellow, his own teeth lengthening as well.  His were double fangs, and Caroline found herself stepping back as he prowled toward her, until her back hit the kitchen island, and Klaus loomed over her.  “You know, you just ate my lunch.”

                His voice was low, the purr in his voice sending goosebumps over her skin.  Part of her wanted to freak out, but another part of her inhaled Klaus’ scent, and he smelled almost as good as the blood had, and she _wanted_ him.

                Her fingers curled in his hair, pulling him down for a heated kiss.  She didn’t care if he _did_ have a girlfriend – probably some hot Elvira vamp – because Caroline had decided she was simply going to take everything she could.  His tongue entered her mouth, licking up blood and running along hers.  He was a spectacular kisser, and when his tongue grazed against a fang, and the hot tang of blood hit her tongue again…

                God, had she really thought that cold crap tasted like an orgasm would?  Because she had been so _wrong_.  _This_ was pure sex, the feel of his mouth on hers, his blood on her tongue, making her moan and grow hot and bothered.

                “More,” she growled when he pulled back, following him with her lips.

                “You’re not the type to lose control,” Klaus replied, running his thumb over her bottom lip.  “Not that such dishevelment doesn’t suit you.”

                “You make it sound like you know me.”

                “Oh, I do, Caroline” – he bent down, lips running over a spot just below her ear she hadn’t realized was sensitive, but that left her shivering – “I know you intimately.  Every _inch_ of you.”

                He pulled back, and smirked as she stared up at him wide eyed.

                “Like I said… _complicated_.”

\---

                _3… 2…. 1_

As he finished the countdown, Caroline pulled away and paced away from him, her hands going to her hair, running through the blond locks. He had hoped to ease her into it, but it seemed that Caroline was determined that her introduction to the supernatural would always be dramatic.

                “What’s going on?” she demanded, whirling toward him.  “What’s happening?  What am I?  Did you do this to me?”

                Lust had been the initial emotion to take over, but just as Klaus had expected it to, panic had been the next emotion to hit her.  It was her transition all over again, although he recalled that she had been alone the first time around.

                She wouldn’t be this time.

                “Easy love,” he said, flashing to her side and stroking his hand through her hair.  “It’s okay, deep breaths.  You know what you are, Sweetheart.”

                “Vampire,” she gasped out, staring at him.  “Vampire, but it makes no sense.  How?”

                “It happened over two decades ago.  I’ll admit I don’t know all the dirty details.  Neither of us have ever been verbose on what came before our transitions.  We both like what we became far too much.”

                “Two decades – that makes no _sense_. I’m _seventeen_.”

                “As you always will be.  Physically.  But you were turned over twenty years ago… although you seem to have _misplaced_ your memories.”

                “Misplaced?” her laughter was incredulous and borderline panicked.  “Oh God, are you always such a master of understatement?  Or maybe you’re just crazy?”

                He dialed a number and held out the phone.  Caroline looked at it blankly for a moment, and then reached out hesitantly, accepting the phone.

                “Hello?... Bonnie?!”

                He wandered over to the other side of the kitchen, allowing Caroline the illusion of privacy as she went through sobbing panic and disbelief, and finally to acceptance as Bonnie explained to her everything that had happened, and then promised that she was working to bring her memories back.

                “Are you okay?” he asked when Caroline hung up the phone.

                “My mom is dead,” she said in a too-small voice, her expression incredibly sad.  “And Elena is in a coma… I don’t know if I want to remember a life where those things happened.”

                “I happened as well,” Klaus pointed out, trying to push back bitterness that Caroline fell back into old bad habits so easily, putting the lives of everyone else over her own desires.  He had to remind himself that at seventeen, her mother and friends _had_ been her whole life.  She didn’t remember him, after all.

                “Yeah, you happened,” Caroline cocked her head.  “Bonnie didn’t say much, except that we’ve been together for a while.”

                He waited for her to continue, and Caroline looked out the window, her expression wistful.

                “Do you really love me?” she asked, and Klaus swallowed at the sadness in her expression – this Caroline hadn’t experienced the wild first love she’d shared with Tyler, or the passionate enmity and desire that had marked the beginning of their own tumultuous courtship.  She just remembered a failing relationship with Matt Donovan and too many boys that she’d thought she might love, only to realize that she wasn’t what they wanted.

                “I’m not a man to stay in one place, or with one person for very long,” Klaus replied, stroking her cheek.  “Yet you’ve kept me enthralled for nearly two decades. “

                “That’s not the words.”

                “I’m afraid those words have never come easily to me.”

                He had said them to her only once, as he held her, praying that he hadn’t been too late, that she wouldn’t fall victim to a werewolf’s blood.  It had been the first time in he had seen her for five years, and prior to the moment he had held her dying form, he would have sworn she was simply a fond memory.  But when those words had slipped from his lips – _I love you, don’t leave me_ – he had realized that he could live for a thousand more years, and she would still live beneath his skin, forever there, never to be shook, no matter how many pretty werewolves or beautiful psychologists might look his way.

                “Oh,” she said quietly, and he moved to cup her cheeks.

                “You do not have the memories of the woman I love,” he told her, as she reached up to rest her hands over his.  “But despite how you might feel at this moment, you became her.  You became a beautiful, _powerful_ woman who had me on my knees from the very first moment, even if I didn’t perhaps know it at the time.”

                “I like that,” she murmured, her lips curling into a smile.  “Powerful… I like that thought.”

                Saying that, she twined her fingers in his hair once more, tugging him down and sealing her lips over his.  Klaus let her, because even with the lack of memories, she felt like his Caroline, _tasted_ like his Caroline… and he couldn’t bear to see that sadness in her eyes.

                He did not love this Caroline… but he did love the woman he knew she would become.

                “You have _such_ a way with words,” she said as they broke apart, and something in her voice had Klaus cupping her chin, staring into her eyes.  The impish smile, that flirtatious glint…

                “You’re back,” he breathed out in relief, and Caroline laughed, pulling him in for another kiss.  “How are you back?”

                “Because magic?” she replied with a shrug, and he knew his expression had to be unimpressed at that response, but she just giggled.  “I dunno.  We’ll call Bonnie.  Later.  Much later.  Because we have things to talk about.”

                “Oh?”

                “Yeah, like _compulsion_.”

                Klaus winced at the reminder, because hadn’t he sworn once, that he wouldn’t compel her?  Her expression told him that yes, he had indeed promised that.

                “You were panicked-”

                “So snap my neck next time.  Don’t _compel_ me.”

                He growled and pulled her in for another searing kiss.

                “There will _be_ no next time.  I adore you, Caroline-”

                “Nope,” she interrupted brightly.  “Not gonna work, not this time.  I’m back, so I need the words…”

                He gritted his teeth, but she just smirked and waited.  Klaus’ nostrils flared, but the challenge was something he couldn’t turn down so easily, and Klaus Mikaelson had never been one to do things by halves, so he pulled her in and dipped her backward dramatically, kissing her in a way that would have left seventeen year old Caroline swooning, and left almost forty year old Caroline breathless, despite not needing to breathe.

                “I am in love with you,” he said, still keeping her dipped.  “So much that I’m rather foolish with it.  Never tell anyone.”

                “It will be our secret,” she promised, and then leapt up, wrapping her legs around Klaus’ waist.

                She did call Bonnie later – _much later_ – to find out that the twins had done a little spell that had affected their godmother, because Caroline was their favorite person, so of course she had wound up being their experiment.  It had been easy to reverse, and the girls had been very contrite.  Caroline had forgiven them, loving the girls too much to do otherwise.

                But the reminder of who she had been at seventeen left her feeling rather vulnerable… until Klaus pulled her back into his arms and showed her love in kisses across skin and making her feel so secure that she forgot that seventeen had ever even existed.


End file.
